1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for making insignias used as badges, chevrons, trademarks, or the like, and more particularly, to a method for making insignias with a raised design, which have a more prominent, distinctive and vivid appearance.
2. Description of Related Art
People usually attach insignias of special design on their clothing as an indication of something special, such as membership, authority or achievement. The insignias can also bear trademark designs symbolizing logos that are attached to fashionable goods such as jeans, purses and so on to promote their sales. The designs on insignias are usually made in relief so as to provide a more prominent, distinctive and vivid appearance. A conventional method for making insignias is to prepare a base sheet on which a decorative material shaped into a desired design is formed. A high-frequency heating machine is used to bond the decorative material on the base sheet and a mold having cutting blades is used to form the decorative material into a desired shape. After that, manual work is used to remove parts of the ornamental material that are cut away from the base sheet so as to form patterns on the insignia. The pattern on the insignia is pre-designed with the mold, which is made in advance according to customer specifications.
A conventional method for making insignias with raised designs is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,672, by Kuwahara, entitled "Method for Forming Emblem of Thermoplastic Synthetic Resin Film". The mechanism used to perform this method includes an engraving die having one or more fusion cutters thereon for pressing the film. During the pressing process, the film is high-frequency-induction heated by the engraving die such that it is partly melted away and thus reduced in thickness to allow the base to be visible through the film. This method is capable of forming fine patterns on the emblem. However, one drawback to this method is that it is still unable to form highly texturized patterns on the emblem. During the heating process of this method, the thermoplastic synthetic resin film is pressed to form recessed portions and raised portions that constitute a visually 3-D pattern on the emblem. However, the 3-D pattern is roughly formed and is thus still considered a plane pattern.
Moreover, the heating process of Kuwahara's method is carried out by high-frequency-induction. One drawback to this heating process is that the heat generated by the high-frequency-induction heating is not enough to treat thick base material. Therefore, the method can only be used to form thin emblems and cannot be used to form thick emblems.
Roughly speaking, under the condition that the heating temperature is fixed, the fineness of the pattern on the emblem is decreased as the thickness of the emblem is increased. The use of only the high-frequency-induction heating means to heat the emblem usually causes the formation of rough, fuzzy patterns on the emblem. Moreover, the edges of the emblem cut by the cutters are fluffy. With these drawbacks, the method is still unable to make highly texturized 3-D patterns on emblems.